You can't have immediate payment on an auction, only on buy it now options. Ebay alone gives at least a standard 3 day grace period to pay simply because some people (my self included) always transfers funds to an online source. I've never seen an option to have an auction end with immediate payment required. And unless they changed it you can't file a non-payment complaint until five days from the auction's end.

Please do not give your son access to your ebay account. Allowing him such access is similar to handing him your credit card and letting him buy what he wants then returning the things you don't want to pay for. Look at the mess you've created. Shame on you. And if this doesn't teach you a lesson on spending limits and budgeting then I don't know what will.

Stuff like that happens all the time on eBay. I say, let it go and move on. Find another buyer. It's not worth getting angry over.

Buyers on eBay have a lot more control than they used to. I'm guessing because revenue was falling and eBay execs had to do something to increase sales. Giving buyers more control over the transaction was one way to do that.

As a seller, you have to take a little more care now in listing and shipping your items. I've been burned a couple of times by overseas buyers.

One in particular, Shop Airlines America, is an eBay partner in Asia. The company acts as an intermediary for Asian buyers, bidding for them on products in the United States, then forwarding the items to Asia. You have to jump through all these hoops to seal the deal, and if you don't, you could get stuck with reimbursing the company for all auction and shipping costs. It's a nightmare.

There used to be pages and pages of complaints on the eBay forums about this particular company, but I think eBay took them down. I always feel a sense of dread when the company wins one of my auctions.

Anyway, just protect yourself by getting delivery confirmation (and insurance on expensive items) and following the rules carefully. You can still make pretty good money using eBay.

I was having a problem with international bidders (because apparently writing "NO INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS WITHOUT EXCEPTION" isn't enough to deter them), but now I use the advanced listing form whenever I put up an auction and create exclusion lists for anywhere outside of the US, so unless you live in the US you literally can't bid on my auction.

eBay is awesome for buying things, it just sucks to sell on there. This past week I've found some really good deals. I just ordered a lot of 9 Punisher specials (including all 4 Summer Specials) for $8.50, first class shipping included.

Now if there's a company that has its own website and also sells on eBay, I'm much more likely to go through eBay knowing there's going to be more consequences for them if they mess up my order.

So I guess in those respects their strategy has worked. And if you use eBay to both buy and sell, I think the changes balance out. You're on a tight leash as a seller but as a buyer it is a more enjoyable experience now.

As sellers we CAN'T be afraid to file unpaid item claims. Why sellers are afraid is, if you file an unpaid item claim and they pay, they can then leave negative feedback. But you just can't be scared of that. Ebay has an option to block anyone who has 2 unpaid item strikes in the last 12 months from bidding on your auction, but it is not the default setting, you have to go in and set it yourself and it's not obvious. But that option will not be effective anyway unless we as sellers consistently file unpaid item strikes on these deadbeat buyers instead of being scared.

IeBay is awesome for buying things, it just sucks to sell on there. This past week I've found some really good deals. I just ordered a lot of 9 Punisher specials (including all 4 Summer Specials) for $8.50, first class shipping included. .

Personally when Im a seller- I hate when buyers get good deals on my auctions. Especially when the exact same item Im selling goes for 50% less than the one right before it and the one right after it...

_________________Fastest know derailer of threads in the know universe...expanded or otherwise.